Boris Johnson is seeking to strike a compromise with Heathrow in the aviation capacity debate by offering the airport’s owners a role in developing and operating a brand new hub in the Thames Estuary.

London’s Mayor on Monday set out four potential scenarios for how the area in West London currently occupied by Heathrow could be re-developed and create homes for as many as 200,000 people.

Mr Johnson, who has consistently campaigned against a third runway at Heathrow, is seeking to appease the shareholders of the West London airport by offering them a role both in the regeneration of the area - as owners of the land - and in creating a new hub to the east of London.

Plans for a four-runway hub airport on the Isle of Grain in north Kent were left off a short-list of options published in December by the Commission investigating where to build the next runway in the South East of England.

However, the commission, headed by Sir Howard Davies, has pledged to undertake further work on the Mayor’s preferred option and will decide in September whether it should be added to the short-list, which currently consists of a second runway at Gatwick and two potential options for an additional air strip at Heathrow.

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Heathrow argues that 114,000 people would be put out of work overnight if it was forced to close in favour of a new hub in the Thames Estuary.

But a report drawn up by property consultants at Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) and PBA for the Mayor’s office claims the site could be re-developed to support up to 90,000 jobs and provide homes for 190,000 people. Many aviation jobs would be transferred to the east, the Mayor argues, while the re-development of the Heathrow site would create a large number of construction jobs in the interim.

Daniel Moylan, Mr Johnson’s chief aviation adviser, said it would be “ideal” if Heathrow became a part of both the regeneration project and the development of a new hub.

He said: “Why shouldn’t Heathrow, as a private company be our partner in this? Wouldn’t that be the best solution, like other businesses that need to move premises? They get a new airport to manage at the end of it too – that would be an ideal solution.”

Mr Johnson vowed to “fight on” for a new hub airport even if Sir Howard’s Airports Commission opts for a third runway at Heathrow or a second runway at Gatwick.

The Commission believes that one extra runway in the South East will be needed by 2030 but said there is a “demand case” for a second additional air strip in the London area by 2050.

Mr Johnson acknowledged that Gatwick is fast becoming the front-runner in the capacity debate, as Heathrow is still believed to be politically undeliverable. However, he said a second runway at Gatwick would be “far from the optimal solution” and “in the end” the debate will go full circle and return to the idea of new hub airport.

A Heathrow spokesperson said: “The Mayor of London is proposing to spend billions of pounds of public money to forcibly buy and then close Heathrow, immediately putting 114,000 people out of work. He would do this to build an expensive new hub airport at a further cost of £112bn to the taxpayer. The economic impacts of this at both a national and regional level would be devastating.”

The Mayor's proposals include turning Heathrow into a technology and education quarter, with two new campus universities, creating 100,000 jobs.

A new town could also be created on the site, according to the JLL report, or a residential quarter with nearly 82,000 homes which would support a population of 200,000.

The report also suggests a fourth option, combining all three to create "Heathrow City". This would involve a residential quarter based around the existing transport infrastructure and some of Heathrow's terminal buildings would be turned into shops and a convention centre.